


More Than The World

by SaraJaye



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Angst, Difficult Decisions, F/M, Family, Friendship, Non-Sacrifice Ending, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-29
Updated: 2014-06-29
Packaged: 2018-02-06 18:49:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1868481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaraJaye/pseuds/SaraJaye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Only after remembering the words of the person she loved could she make the most difficult choice of her life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	More Than The World

**Author's Note:**

> Author's choice, author's choice, Tough choices

_Grima's heart and Robin's are inexorably linked. Dragon and woman can no longer be separated. Therefore, slaying Grima would also cause the end of Robin's life._

She could end Grima once and for all, so no future generations would have to worry about him. This was her chance.

_But I would die, too._

Chrom and Lissa had vehemently protested the news, and Chrom had made her promise not to sacrifice herself. She couldn't, of course, even _she_ didn't know what she wanted to do. _End my life to save theirs, or stay with them and let Grima awaken and terrorize a future generation._ If Grima merely went to sleep, all of Lucina and the children's hard work would have been for almost nothing.

 _But a lot can happen in a thousand years,_ she thought. Maybe somewhere down the line, someone would find a way to end Grima for good. Or once she died of old age, Grima would perish too. Humans didn't live forever, and sixty or seventy years was only a small chunk out of a thousand.

The mark on her hand, her loathed connection to Validar, to the fell dragon. _If you could cast aside the brand, would you?_ One of the Einherjar had asked, and she'd said yes, of course. To live without the darkness hanging over her head, the fear that she'd become what she hated and betray her friends.

Her friends. Her husband, her child. They were the only thing keeping her from making the decision she knew she should. If it weren't for them, if she didn't have such strong ties to these people...if Lissa hadn't found her that day, she may as well have become Grima all over again. She wouldn't have discovered a life outside being the designer baby of a madman with a bad haircut.

Never would have fallen in love.

Grima bent double at her waist, gasping and coughing and groaning in pain. She'd spent hours looking at the mark just before this battle, thinking and rethinking. Only seconds had passed, but it felt like an eternity.

_What should I do?_

"Robin! Just one more blow and it'll all be over!" Chrom shouted as he ran to her side. "Stand back, everyone!"

"Wait!" She held out her hand. "I will..."

_Robin, come read with me! I found a book I know you'll love!_

_I thought I was your favorite dragon!_

_Do I look any taller today?_

_Hey-o! Check out this cool curse I thought up, we can revive dead Risen and kill them, again!_

_You're mad, but you're a mad genius!_

"I will..."

_Mother! I want to be just like you when I grow up._

_I had my doubts, but Father trusts you and so do I._

_Sorry about the fire. I'll try to control my rages from now on._

_I've come so far since meeting you, Robin._

"I..."

_You make me feel like I'm really here. Like I mean something._

She couldn't.

She stepped back, lowered her sword and allowed Chrom to deal the final blow. When it was over, the mark remained on her hand and she knew that in a thousand years, Grima would return.

Maybe she'd been selfish. Maybe she'd been wrong, but the moment she remembered those words she knew she couldn't. _You make me feel like I really exist. I need you, Robin._

Foolish as it was to base a world-altering choice on love, she couldn't regret it. Okay, she did a little, but as she sat beside her smiling husband near the campfire, she couldn't bring herself to.

_I need you._

A lot could happen in a thousand years, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> When my Avatar married Kellam, I couldn't go through with the sacrifice ending. And after seeing what he says in the final scene if he's her husband, I can't imagine a 'verse where Robin does either. Drama is one thing, but the one person who notices Kellam most of all abandoning him just feels cruel to me...not that Kellam's a fragile little woobie who would wither away and die without Robin, of course! But I'm just a big softie and his quote just gets to me too much.


End file.
